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Remarks  by  Lawson  N.  Fuller  on  the  Value  and  Util- 
ity of  Cable  Roads  at  the  Opening  of  the  New 
Cable  Road  on  Tenth  Avenue,  New  York  City,  August 
29, 1885. 


They  are  clean,  benefit  property  and  can  accommodate  the  public  ; and  every 
street  should  have  them. 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen: 

The  people  of  Washington  Heights  have  been  waiting  and 
wanting  and  advocating  a railroad  for  thirty  years,  and  it  has 
at  last  arrived — one  of  the  best  roads  in  the  country.  The 
Third  Avenue  Railroad  Company  deserve  great  credit  for  the 
enterprise  that  they  have  manifested  in  employing  the  best 
engineering  ability  in  the  country  to  go  to  Chicago  with  the 
President  of  their  road  and  thoroughly  investigate  the  merits 
of  the  cable  system.  It  is  a fact  worthy  of  note  that  Mr. 
Lyon,  the  President,  of  one  of  the  richest  and  best  conducted 
and  most  extensive  horse  railroads  in  the  country,  went  with 
the  engineer  to  Chicago  with  the  determination  that  if  the 
system  appeared  to  him  practicable  in  the  City  of  New  York, 
notwithstanding  the  opposition  that  had  already  manifested 
itself  here  in  certain  directions  from  the  horse  railroads,  to 
adopt  it ; and  having  the  courage  of  his  convictions,  being 
fully  satisfied  that  the  system  would  work  well  in  New  York, 
and  the  engineer  having  come  to  the  same  conclusion  without 
consultation  with  each  other,  they  immediately  recommended 
it  to  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Third  Avenue  Railroad 
Company.  They  have  gone  to  work,  and  in  about  eighteen 
months  they  have  built  about  three  miles  of  double  track, 
commencing  at  Eighth  avenue  and  One  Hundred  and  Twenty- 
fifth  street,  running  to  Tenth  avenue,  turning  up  Tenth  ave- 


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nue  and  running  out  to  One  Hundred  and  Eighty-seventh 
street — a considerable  portion  of  the  way  chiseling  their  way 
through  solid  rock,  not  being  allowed  to  blast  on  account  of 
the  road’s  proximity  to  the  Croton  water-pipes.  Notwith- 
standing all  the  arguments  that  have  been  advanced  by  the 
different  horse  railroads  and  the  heads  of  departments,  from 
the  Office  of  the  Commissioner  of  Public  Works,  from  the 
Board  of  Health,  from  the  Eire  Department,  from  the  Cor- 
poration Counsel’s  Office  with  the  aid  and  support  of  the 
Mayor  against  the  cable  system,  they  have  overcome  every 
obstacle,  and  successfully  completed  their  road  without  inter- 
fering with  sewers  or  pipes,  so  that  the  foolish  arguments  of 
the  croakers  against  the  cable  system  have  utterly  failed. 

They  have  not  broken  a pipe,  nor  damaged  a pipe,  nor 
interfered  with  the  Croton  water-pipes,  and  have  found  no 
difficulty  in  adjusting  the  gas-pipes  to  the  conditions  of  the 
road. 

Mr.  Jacob  M.  Long,  an  able  engineer,  who  has  been  about 
twenty-five  years  with  the  Harlem  Gas  Company,  gave  his 
testimony  before  the  Commissioners  who  w^ere  appointed  by 
the  Supreme  Court  to  consider  this  cable  system,  testified 
that  he  had  adapted  all  the  Harlem  gas-pipes  in  One  Hun- 
dred and  Twenty-fifth  street  and  up  Tenth  avenue  as  far  as 
the  road  had  been  completed  to  the  conditions  of  the  cable 
road,  at  an  expense  of  only  two  hundred  dollars,  which  he 
considered  a liberal  consideration  for  all  the  work  that  had 
been  done. 

For  these  gas  men  and  gas  companies  to  send  their  attor- 
neys before  the  Commissioners  to  oppose  a system  that  was  so 
well  calculated  to  give  the  needed  facilities  to  the  traveling 
public  of  New  York  is  a perfect  outrage,  when  it  is  taken 
into  consideration  that  they  pay  not  a single  dollar  into  the 
treasury  of  the  City  of  New  York  for  the  privilege  of  putting 
down  their  pipes  wherever  they  want  to  ; and  that  this  Cable 
Company,  by  the  conditions  of  their  charter,  are  obliged  to 
pay  the  expense  themselves,  if  any  expense  is  necessary  in 
altering  pipes,  changing  them  and  adapting  them  to  their 
system. 


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There  is  one  thing  that  the  completion  of  this  grand  road 
' on  the  Tenth  avenue  settles,  and  that  is  this — that  all  of  the 
/;  arguments  that  the  horse  railroad  and  the  heads  of  the 
^different  departments  in  the  City  of  - New  York  have  urged 
against  this  system  are  without  foundation  and  utterly 
false — and  here  is  the  road  to  prove  it. 

Look  at  the  condition  of  the  Tenth  avenue  to-day  over 
which  this  cable  road  runs  as  far  as  they  have  completed 
it ! It  is  as  perfect  a road  as  anybody  would  wish  to  walk 
on  or  drive  over,  and  it  is  the  first  time  in  thirty  years 
that  I have  seen  any  portion  of  it  to  any  considerable 
extent  fit  to  drive  over.  Their  tracks  have  been  laid  ; they 
have  put  in  concrete  and  asphaltum,  leveling  right  up  flush 
with  the  rails,  so  that  there  is  no  trouble  in  driving  back- 
wards and  forwards  across  them  without  any  inconvenience  to 
horses  or  carriages.  Even  better  than  that ; it  is  the  best 
place  to  drive  on  the  track  and  the  smoothest  for  the  horses 
between  the  rails  ; even  if  they  .travel  right  on  the  slot  there 
is  no  danger  of  inconvenience ; and  if  all  the  principal 
streets  in  the  City  of  New  York  could  have  a cable  road, 
and  have  it  finished  up  in  the  style  that  this  Third  Avenue 
Railroad  is  finishing  up  the  Tenth  avenue,  it  would  be  a 
great  blessing,  advantage,  convenience  and  economy,  not 
only  to  those  who  drive  private  carriages,  but  to  hacks  and 
all  kinds  of  vehicles,  whether  trucks  or  carts,  or  any  other 
description  of  carriage.  * 

Another  thing  to  be  noticed  is  that  they  use  a different  rail 
from  what  the  horse  railroads  have  adopted.  They  promised 
to  do  it,  and  they  have  done  it.  What  did  Jacob  Sharp 
do  in  regard  to  Broadway  ? He  pledged  his  word  before 
the  Commission  which  sat  to  hear  testimony  , in  favor  of  and 
against  the  two  systems — the  horse  railroad  and  the  cable 
road — that  if  he  got  permission  to  lay  his  horse  railroad  in 
Broadway,  he  would  use  an  improved  rail,  he  would  have  a 
better  style  of  cars,  and  that  he  would  use  the  best  horses. 
What  has  he  done?  Put  down  one  of  the  most  wretched 
tracks,  a centre  bearing  rail  that  would  take  a carriage  wheel 
on  either  side  and  hold  it  almost  as  firmly  as  the  grip  used 


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on  the  cable  road ; not  paved  up  flush  on  either  side  with 
the  rail,  but  two  or  three  inches  on  either  side  to  catch  a 
carriage  wheel  or  truck  wheels,  or  any  other  wheels  that  are 
used  in  business  or  for  pleasure ; and  his  cars  are  no 
improvement  in  any  way,  with  the  exception  of  a little  change 
in  the  color  of  the  paint,  and  the  horses  are  no  better  than 
he  has  always  used,  and  they  are  unable  to  accommodate 
one-half  of  the  people  who  want  to  ride,  but  a continuation 
of  the  same  packing  process. 

Instead  of  having  a grand  cable  road  on  Broadway,  the 
rails  of  which  would  amount  to  no  considerable  inconvenience, 
splendid  cars,  such  as  have  been  built  for  Tenth  avenue,  that 
are  a credit  to  the  system  and  a credit  to  the  city,  and  which 
will  be  the  admiration  of  the  passengers  as  well  as  their  con- 
venience and  comfort — cars  that  do  credit  to  the  inventor,  Mr. 

J.  H.  Bobertson,  Superintendent — such  cars,  in  fact,  as  have 
never  been  and  never  will  be  built  for  the  horse  railroad,  will 
now  be  used  on  the  cable  road  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  ' 
traveling  public.  In  fact,  I have  never  seen  a prettier  car,  and 
one  built  with  greater  taste,  with  an  eye  to  convenience  and 
comfort,  than  the  car  that  has  been  put  on  to  this  Tenth 
avenue  as  probably  the  style  that  will  be  most  generally  in 
use. 

Another  improvement  that  this  company  has  adopted. 
Their  cars  are  not  all  of  one  pattern. 

The  grip-car  adapted  to  its  use  is  well  built,  the  model  is 
beautiful,  and  it  is  comfortable.  The  basket-car,  which  is 
intended  for  an  open  car  during  the  summer,  with  panels  made 
for  the  side,  to  enclose  it  in  winter,  so  that  it  can  be  adapted 
to  all  kinds  of  weather,  looking  to  the  comfort  of  the  travel- 
ing community.  The  other  car,  which  is  enclosed,  is  made 
higher  than  the  ordinary  liorse-car  ; consequently  is  more 
attractive,  more  convenient,  and  seats  a larger  number  of 
passengers.  In  fact,  their  cars  are  everything  that  could  be 
desired,  and  there  is  not  a fault  to  be  found  with  them ; and 
they  do  credit,  not  only  to  the  President  of  the  road,  but  to 
the  gentleman,  Mr.  Bobertson,  who  drew  up  the  models  and 
watched  over  their  building  to  completion. 


\ 


There  is  another  lesson  to  be  drawn  from  this  step  in  the 
interests  of  the  public  by  this  Third  avenue  horse  railroad 
adopting  this  cable  system.  It  shows  that  those  gentlemen 
had  the  courage  of  their  convictions ; that  the  increased 
travel  in  the  City  of  New  York,  the  overcrowded  condition  of 
the  cars  demanded  some  improvement  in  the  way  of  greater 
facilities  than  could  be  given  by  cars  drawn  by  horses  ; and 
having  made  up  their  minds  to  that  they  have  given  a chal- 
lenge to  the  horse  railroads  ; and  if  this  road  works  as  well  as 
they  anticipate  that  it  will,  they  contemplate  cabling  their, 
entire  system,  and  if  they  do  do  that,  it  revolutionizes  the 
railroad  business  in  the  City  of  New  York,  and  it  is  a revo- 
lution that  has  long  been  looked  for  and  needed,  and  in  a 
very  few  years  at  the  remotest  every  competitive  road  now 
worked  by  horse-cars  will  have  to  cable  their  roads  in  order 
to  compete  with  the  cable  system  and  afford  the  same  conven- 
ience to  the  traveling  public,  or  else  they  will  have  to  go  out 
of  the  business. 

There  is  one  advantage  that  I apprehend  these  gentlemen 
discover  in  this  cable  system — the  capacity  for  carrying  an 
almost  unlimited  number  of  people  with  the  perfect  and 
duplicated  machinery  which  they  have  adopted.  They  can 
increase  their  carrying  capacities  to  almost  an  unlimited  extent 
if  the  emergency  requires  it.  This  the  horse-cars  have  never 
done  and  will  never  do  sufficiently  to  meet  the  public  demand. 

For  this  reason,  supposing  the  Third  Avenue  Railroad  Com- 
pany, or  the  Sixth  Avenue  Railroad  Company,  or  the  Eighth 
Avenue  Railroad  Company  should  keep  fifty  extra  cars  to  put 
on  in  case  of  great  demand,  that  would  necessitate  keeping 
eight  horses  for  each  car,  which  would  be  four  hundred  horses. 
If  you  increase  the  number  of  cars  or  decrease  the  number  of 
cars  you  increase  or  decrease  the  number  of  horses,  so  that 
the  thing  would  be  impracticable.  How  is  it  with  the  cable 
system  ? They  have  a reserved  force  of  power.  They  can 
have  fifty,  or  a hundred,  or  a hundred  and  fifty  cars  on  storage 
at  a very  slight  expense.  They  eat  nothing.  In  case  of  great 
demand  they  could  switch  all  these  cars  on  to  their  tracks, 
use  a few  additional  bushels  of  coal,  generate  a little  more 


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steam  and  carry  double  or  treble  the  number  of  passengers. 
When  the  rush  is  over  they  can  return  their  cars  to  the  stor- 
age-house and  wait  for  another  emergency. 

When  I was  in  Chicago  examining  the  cable  system, 
I was  told  by  the  superintendent  of  the  road  that  one  evening 
the  circus  was  in  the  city  and  there  were  about  fifteen  thou- 
sand people  present.  They  had  every  car  ready  to  sweep 
around  the  tent  the  moment  the  performance  was  over, 
and  those  fifteen  thousand  people  came  out,  and  in  about 
fifteen  minutes  were  distributed  to  all  parts  of  the  city  by 
the  cable  road.  The  horse-cars  could  not  have  distributed 
one-quarter  of  the  number  in  the  same  length  of  time,  and 
with  the  growing  population  of  our  great  city  and  the 
constantly  increasing  demand  for  railroad  convenience,  there 
is  no  other  system  that  will  answer  the  purpose  or  meet  the 
emergency. 

On  the  8tli  of  this  very  month,  we  had  one  of  the  grandest 
processions  that  was  ever  witnessed  in  this  city  or  probably 
ever  will  be  witnessed.  It  marched  from  the  Battery  to  River- 
side Drive,  calling  into  requisition  all  the  facilities  that  were 
at  hand — and  probably  not  one-half  the  people  could  ride. 
On  all  such  occasions  the  cable  system  will  afford,  if  properly 
organized,  as  they  propose  to  do  with  the  New  York  Cable 
Company,  with  main  lines  and  transverse  roads  to  carry  the 
people,  all  the  facilities  needed  under  any  circumstances  will 
be  furnished,  and  for  the  fare  of  five  cents,  from  any  one  point 
to  any  other  in  the  City  of  New  York. 

This  Third  Avenue  Railroad  Company  have  done  for  the 
people  of  New  York  a grander  thing  than  they  imagine.  They 
have  built  six  miles  of  road  on  the  upper  end  of  the  Island, 
on  the  crown  of  the  hill,  almost  up  to  and  looking  towards 
Kingsbridge. 

We  waited  thirty  years  patiently — they  have  built  the 
road ! One-half  of  it  runs  through  what  you  might  almost  call 
a wilderness  for  the  want  of  these  very  facilities  ; but  they 
probably  apprehend,  as  they  will  realize  in  the  near  future, 
that  their  road  will  make  the  desert  to  bud  and  blossom  with 
public  improvements. 


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And  there  should  be  some  reward  given  to  these  people  in 
some  way  or  other  for  the  bold  step  that  they  have  taken. 
They  have  suffered  the  criticism  and  the  reproaches  of 
croakers  and  fault-finders,  but  in  the  face  of  all  the  opposi- 
tion and  criticism  and  embarrassment  they  have  gone  on 
quietly,  persevering  until  they  have  completed  the  road. 

There  is  one  link  lacking  under  the  present  system  that 
is  sadly  needed  by  the  public,  but  which  unfolded  itself  so 
recently  that  it  was  not  provided  for  or  taken  into  consider- 
ation in  the  building  of  their  system  of  cable  road. 

One  of  the  grandest  men,  and  the  most  distinguished 
Generals  that  this  country  or  any  other  has  ever  known,  and 
probably  beloved  by  more  people  in  this  country  and  all 
others  than  any  other  man  that  ever  lived  in  our  day,  desired 
to  be  buried  in  this  city  because  this  city  befriended  him 
in  the  time  of  his  need.  This  city  owes  a debt  to  that  man — 
the  man  who  did  more  to  save  his  country  and  to  perpetuate 
its  honor  and  its  glory  than  any  other  man  living — the  man 
who  never  wrote  a line  or  spoke  a word  in  his  official  career 
as  President  or  as  General  that  was  not  a credit  to  himself 
and  a credit  to  liis  country. 

In  view  of  these  facts  and  in  consideration  of  all  that  he 
did,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Riverside  Drive  was 
selected  by  his  family  to  deposit  his  remains — one  of  the  most 
beautiful  places  probably  in  the  universe — the  Hudson  river 
at  the  base  of  the  hill,  the  Palisades  stretching  out  on  its 
western  shore,  with  a view  up  the  river  and  down  as  far  as  the 
eye  can  reach  ; with  the  beautiful  drives  stretching  out  at  the 
south  ; with  the  East  river,  the  Sound  and  the  Harlem  Flats 
spread  out  in  full  view  on  the  east,  there  should  be  given  to 
the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands, and  millions  of  people  that  will  come  from  all  direc- 
tions by  every  method  possible,  as  has  already  been  seen — 
by  excursions  that  have  come  from  the  East  and  West  to  visit 
his  tomb — the  best  facilities  should  be  given  them,  out  of 
consideration  for  what  that  man  did  to  perpetuate  their 
liberty,  their  freedom  and  the  glory  of  their  country,  to  reach 
his  grave  conveniently  and  comfortably. 


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At  present  it  cannot  be  clone  and  there  is  but  one  way 
that  it  could  be  done  and  that  way  it  should  be  done.  This 
company,  who  have  built  this  splendid  road  in  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-fifth  street  should  be  given  the  privilege,  and 
it  should  be  considered  a great  advantage  to  the  public  that 
they  take  the  privilege  of  extending  their  road  westward 
through  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  street,  crossing  the 
Boulevard  at  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  street,  over 
private  property  but  a few  feet,  up  the  hill  on  to  Riverside 
Drive,  running  over  the  roadway  leading  down  to  Manhattan- 
ville,  reaching  the  brow  of  the  hill  near  Claremont  Hotel, 
running  northward  round  the  brow  of  the  hill  outside  of  the 
curbstone  on  to  the  west  side  along  the  banks  of  the  Hudson, 
as  near  the  curb  and  the  Drive  as  they  could  conveniently 
build  their  road,  directly  west  of  the  monument,  running 
south  as  far  as  One  Hundred  and  Fifteenth  street,  and 
turning  east  through  One  Hundred  and  Fifteenth  street,  back 
to  the  Boulevard  and  north  through  the  Boulevard  back  to 
One  Hundred  and  Twenty-fifth  street,  crossing  the  Boulevard, 
which  has  a horse  railroad  on  it ; eastward  across  the  Tenth 
avenue,  which  has  a horse  railroad  on  it,  and  will  soon  have 
an  elevated  railroad  ; eastward  across  the  Eighth  avenue, 
which  has  a surface  railroad  and  an  elevated  road  ; across  the 
Fourth  avenue,  which  has  a depressed  road  ; across  Third 
avenue,  with  its  surface  road  and  its  elevated  road  ; across 
Second  avenue,  with  its  surface  and  elevated  road  ; and  to 
the  East  river,  which  would  give  the  people  of  the  City  of 
New  York  every  convenience  and  comfort  that  would  be 
required  in  reaching  Riverside  through  all  these  elevated  and 
surface  roads,  riding  on  to  the  ground  of  Riverside  Park 
and  back  again,  taking  the  axial  lines  and  distributing  the 
people  to  all  parts  of  the  city. 

This  needed  cable  road  extension  should  be  granted  and 
built  at  once.  We  don’t  want  to  wait  one,  two,  three,  four  or 
five  years  for  this  great  improvement.  It  is  needed  to-day, 
and  if  you  will  go  with  me  any  day,  morning,  afternoon  or 
evening  on  to  Riverside  Drive  and  see  the  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  people  that  visit  that  place,  you  will 


1 


fully  agree  witli  all  that  I have  said.  Any  day  you  can  see 
decrepit  old  men  and  women  climbing  up  the  hill  on  the 
north  and  on  the  east  side  to  reach  the  tomb  of  General 
Grant ; and  many  and  many  a one  have  I seen  give  up  before 
they  had  reached  the  top  of  the  hill  and  return  to  the  cars 
because  they  were  not  able  to  make  the  journey  and  not 
able,  probably,  to  hire  carriages  to  take  them  there. 

Now  in  this  cable  system  every  facility  can  be  given,  every 
advantage  afforded  for  comfort  and  convenience  to  reach  the 
grounds  for  the  sum  of  five  cents,  and  if  they  are  not  able  to 
walk  they  can  ride  entirely  around  the  entire  plot,  having  a 
complete  view  of  the  whole  grounds  without  getting  out  of 
the  cars. 

Now,  if  that  is  what  is  needed  it  is  what  will  have  to  come, 
and  the  quicker  it  comes  the  better  for  New  York  and  the 
country  at  large.  If  we  are  disposed  for  an  instant  to  look 
at  this  question  from  a selfish  standpoint,  a pecuniary  stand- 
point, or  with  a view  to  public  improvements,  the  apprecia- 
tion of  real  property  and  improvement  of  the  upper  end  of 
the  Island  and  the  annexed  wards,  this  cable  system  as  it  is 
proposed  by  the  New  York  Cable  Company,  and  recom- 
mended unanimously  by  the  Commission,  and  which  will  prob- 
ably be  recommended  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  as  inaugu- 
rated by  the  Third  Avenue  Horse  Railroad  Company,  will  give 
such  an  impetus  to  improvements  and  advance  to  property  as 
has  never  been  known. 

The  elevated  railroads  accomplished  wonders  for  the  city. 
They  run  through  a limited  territory  compared  to  what  will 
be  covered  by  this  cable  system. 

This  cable  system,  with  its  transverse  roads,  will  improve 
it  from  the  east  to  the  west  side,  so  that  the  whole  question 
will  be  covered,  and  there  will  be  a movement  all  along  the 
line,  from  the  East  to  the  North  river,  and  from  the  South 
Ferry  to  Kingsbridge  and  over  to  the  annexed  territory.  So, 
what  possible  argument  is  there  to  be  given  against  the  adop- 
tion of  the  cable  system,  as  inaugurated  by  this  Third  Avenue 
Railroad  Company  ? No  argument  but  the  argument  of  the 
horse  railroads,'  and,  what  does  that  mean  but  oppression, 


10 


inconvenience,  crowding  and  packing  without  one-quarter  of 
the  advantage  to  real  estate  and  to  public  convenience  that 
is  given  by  the  cable  system. 

What  are  some  of  the  advantages  of  the  cable  system  over 
the  most  improved  facilities  the  horse  railroads  can  give  us  ? 
One  is  an  unlimited  capacity  at  times  when  greater  capacity 
is  needed  ; another,  the  ability  to  run  at  any  rate  of  speed 
that  municipal  authorities  will  allow ; and  still  another, 
greater  promptness  in  stopping  and  starting  than  with  horse- 
cars  ; still  another,  greater  saving  of  expense ; and  a fifth, 
freedom  from  interruption  by  snow,  the  power  being  below 
the  surface,  snow  and  ice  won’t  impede  the  cars,  for  if  the 
wheel  won’t  revolve,  they  can  slide — but  they  have  to  go. 
Another  thing  is  greater  cleanliness,  affecting  both  health  and 
comfort. 

With  the  increase  in  population  the  additions  must  go 
further  and  further  from  the  centre  of  business, necessitating  a 
constantly  increasing  ratio  of  travel  to  population.  The 
increase  from  1880  to  1884,  without  any  increase  in  the  trans- 
portation facilities,  was  72,893,514,  being  34  and  TVper  cent., 
upon  which  basis  the  travel  would  be  in  1890,  450,000,000, 
against  384,000,000  last  year  ; in  1900,  956,000,000  ; in  1910, 
which  is  not  far  away,  2,031,000,000. 

If  the  cable  roads  should  all  be  built  by  1890,  and  should 
attract  only  75  per  cent,  of  the  increased  travel,  they  would 
carry  102,000,000  passengers  and  earn  $5,100,000,  gross,  of 
which  60  per  cent.,  or  $3,000,000,  would  be  net,  being  6 per 
cent,  on  $50,000,000  capital. 

There  is  room  and  demand  for  all  these  increased  facilities, 
and  they  will  pay  a large  dividend  on  all  capital  invested,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  enormous  increase  to  the  value  of  real 
estate  along  the  line  of  the  roads.  We  were  told  before  the 
elevated  roads  were  built  that  they  were  not  needed.  In 
1875  they  were  needed  only  to  the  extent  of  carrying  920,571 
passengers.  In  1885,  which  was  ten  years  later,  they  were 
needed  to  the  extent  of  carrying  96,702,620  passengers,  less 
than  1,000,000  in  1875,  and  nearly  97,000,000  in  1885,  showing 
the  enormous  increase  of  travel,  a much  more  ^apid  increase 


11 


£ 


iii  travel  than  in  facilities  afforded  to  the  traveling  com- 
munity. 

The  average  selling  or  market  price  of  the  stock  and  bonds 
of  the  surface  or  horse  railways,  exclusive  of  the  Harlem  or 
Fourth  avenue  line,  is  $388,900  per  mile,  while  on  the  basis 
of  earning  six  per  cent,  net,  the  value  per  mile  would  be 
$472,000  per  mile  of  road.  The  same  roads  doing  the  same 
traffic  by  cable  would  earn  net  at  least  $44,200  per  mile  or  six 
per  cent,  on  $735,000  per  mile.  The  market  value  of  their 
bonds  averages  $110,  and  that  of  their  stock  averages  $165, 
which  argues  that  no  safer  or  better  investment  can  be  found 
than  in  a city  railway. 

There  is  no  cause  of  alarm  to  the  roads  that  are  already 
built  that  roads  will  be  built  so  rapidly  as  not  to  afford  a 
handsome  income  for  the  investment.  The  fact  is  that  for 
the  last  forty  years,  to  my  certain  knowledge,  the  facilities 
have  been  twenty-five  years  behind  the  demand,  and  that 
there  are  more  people,  that  there  is  a larger  percentage  of 
the  traveling  community  who  have  to  ride  holding  on  to 
straps  and  on  the  rails  in  the  rear  of  the  cars  than  there 
were  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  that  there  is  no  relief  from 
this  bondage  in  any  other  way  but  in  adopting  the  cable 
system. 

We  of  the  heights  congratulate  ourselves,  we  congratulate 
the  Third  Avenue  Railroad  Company,  we  congratulate  the 
city  at  large  that  the  system  is  established  here,  that  it  has 
come  to  stay,  and  that  it  has  come  right  here  on  the  heights ; 
and  this  part  of  the  city  is  as  beautiful  and  sacred  to  us  as 
Jerusalem  was  to  David — that  it  is  the  very  perfection  of 
beauty  and  the  glory  of  all  lands. 

And  further,  having  got  this  good  thing  ourselves,  we  are 
willing  to  do  all  that  we  can  for  our  neighbors,  the  citizens  of 
New  York,  and  to  spread  this  blessing;  and  we  hope  that 
these  apostles  of  the  Third  Avenue  Railroad  will  continue 
their  good  work.  The  President  of  the  road,  Mr.  Lyons,  savs 
that  they  could  build  feet  down  the  Third  avenue  while  they 
were  building  inches  on  the  Tenth  avenue,  on  account  of  the 
rock  and  many  other  obstacles  that  they  encounter  on  the 


l 

4 


4 


heights  that  they  would  not  encounter  in  the  lower  portions 
of  the  city ; and  it  is  safe  to  say — it  is  safe  to  promise  the 
400,000,000  of  people  who  ride  on  this  island — that  in  the 
near  future  the  system  that  has  been  so  successfully  inaugu- 
rated at  this  end  of  the  island  will  be  extended  to  the  lower, 
end  of  the  island,  and  from  the  east  to  the  west  side  to  a 
sufficient  extent  to  give  the  traveling  public  what  they  have 
so  long  prayed  for — a seat  that  will  be  comfortable,  a speed 
that  will  be  satisfactory,  and  all  for  a five-cent  fare.  What 
more  could  be  desired  or  asked  ? 


